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JohnnyRnR posted:Skychrono, that is a great looking ring. Go into photoshop and reset the white balance. The photo isn't doing it justice. That is a great idea. Thus is the glow without a flash but with an energy-saving bulb. Zealous Abattoir posted:Skychrono, your ring is very pretty! Thank you! Now to figure out a good place to propose in New York City without having two others do it in that spot first...
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Nov 21, 2009 03:20
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JohnnyRnR posted:I'll disagree with Rootbeer Baron on this one. GIA certificates only hit a few of the pieces that make a diamond good. Case in point - The GIA does not define the clarity of material or the source of a diamond's color. Both of those are big factors in assessing the quality of a stone. There are many more criteria that help determine the quality and price of a diamond than just the cert. Oh I didn't mean to say it's always a dealbreaker, it's just something to ask further questions on. There's some diamonds that do get that weird oily look to them with fluoro, but I'll agree with you that most really aren't affected by it, and some stones are definitely helped by it. You're right about the color of the fluorescence too, I've seen a diamond before that was like EF color that fluoresced medium green, it was cool to see and the kind of oddity I'd want for myself if I was in the market. Also, I generally thought the origin of a color of a stone was defined on a cert, if you're referring to the stone being treated or natural in color. Or are you talking about the diamond's type? EDIT: Just to kind of clarify my position about the certification and buying diamonds sight unseen, personally it's something I wouldn't want to do myself. If I ever need to get a diamond online, no matter the shape and cert, I'd want it to be something I could have shipped to me to look at for consideration before I made the commitment to buying. I just happen to think that round brilliants offer less trouble in that regard because the basic structure of the cut is always the same, and varies far less than something like a cushion modified brilliant or anything that can display a bowtie. I don't believe in trusting a certification sight unseen, even gia or ags, because I've seen both of them make calls I don't agree with. However, if you ARE going to buy something without seeing it first, those things help. FormerPoster fucked around with this message at 17:06 on Nov 21, 2009 |
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Nov 21, 2009 16:59
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This is just something I've been throwing around in my head for awhile and need a neutral party's opinion. So I'm pretty sure my boyfriend is ~*the one*~ and I want to spend the rest of my life with him and I'm pretty sure the feeling is mutual. We've been together for close to two years and have been living together for a large portion of that time (both of our leases to our past apartments happened to run out at the same time so we thought we'd just move in together and see how that went). Right now we're just waiting for him to graduate next winter and get his PhD. There's almost a 100% chance we're going to have to move out of state for whatever job he wants (and I'll concede here, I know he's going to be the one with the better job PhD trumps a BS hah). I'm perfectly willing to move wherever he wants but lately I've been thinking, is it weird that I want to be either engaged or married before I'd move out of state with him? It's not that I want to use it as some bartering chip or a false sense of security that he'll have to stay with me if we move, I just think it seems like a logical step in our relationship. Honestly we've never really talked about marriage yet and I have no idea how to bring up this topic. On one hand I don't want to rush anything but on the other all of our friends and family live pretty close to us, so if we did want to do anything, we're running out of time to plan it (wouldn't want a wedding anyway, just maybe a post signing stuff at the courthouse party, and right now we actually have a good hook up for free food and photography, don't know if these friends will be here in a few years so it's like a perfect storm of a very cheap but nice party, again logical thinking here). Ugh I just don't know how to approach this or if I should just wait and let things fall as they may. Am I just being marriage crazy or is this something normal to think about?
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Nov 21, 2009 19:51
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Bacteriophage posted:This is just something I've been throwing around in my head for awhile and need a neutral party's opinion. You are not crazy for wanting to get married closer to home...but you are your bf are going to have to talk about it.
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Nov 21, 2009 21:10
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Rootbeer Baron posted:Also, I generally thought the origin of a color of a stone was defined on a cert, if you're referring to the stone being treated or natural in color. Or are you talking about the diamond's type? Ah, I understand what you're driving at. What I was saying about color is that the GIA doesn't list any kind of color zoning or crystal coloration variations on their white diamond reports. There is a massive difference in appearance from a stone that has a yellow spot on one side that diffuses color through the stone and one that has an even colored material throughout. One would look breathtaking and the other looks kind of muddy. As example, my wife has a K colored engagement ring with an even coloration throughout. Spectacular look, and because the crystal coloration is even (and the internal graining was properly aligned on the optical planes) the stone faces up like a G in white light. In certain incandescent lighting the diamond is BRIGHT yellow like a fancy colored diamond. It's really cool, but none of the laboratories report things like that.
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Nov 21, 2009 23:31
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Bacteriophage posted:This is just something I've been throwing around in my head for awhile and need a neutral party's opinion. Sounds perfectly reasonable to me, as long as you don't start bringing it up while he's swamped with his thesis. Ha. You should just bring it up in whatever way is comfortable to you. There's no reason not to be practical about marriage, so you can bring it up in a 'this is a good time, let's do it!' sort of way. Or, to be more fun, propose to him! I had a guy friend who wanted an engagement ring (why should only girls get them?) and so they both got rings, which ended up doubling as wedding rings.
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Nov 22, 2009 03:35
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Bacteriophage posted:Stuff about marriage and moving out of state I was in the same position as you are about six months ago. My partner and I had been together two years, living together for one, and he got accepted to a M.Sc. program in the Netherlands (we're Canadian). I'm a nanny, so I can work anywhere, and it was pretty well assumed when he was applying to various programs that I'd be going wherever he went. When he was accepted to the program here and we started to make plans to move, all of a sudden, I did start to feel like marriage was something I wanted to talk about. One of my reasons for wanting to get something settled then was what you describe: both of us had strong family ties in the area and we didn't know when we'd be back there again, I didn't want us to get engaged and then have to announce it to everyone long-distance (and I knew his parents especially wouldn't be too keen on that happening), and it seemed like it made sense to get things settled before we left, etc. The upshot of the discussion that we had was that he didn't feel (for reasons with which I agreed) that this was the best time for us to get formally engaged, but that he agreed that before we left, we should do some planning about the future that included a discussion of when we thought marriage fit into the picture. That discussion was hugely helpful, and both of us felt a lot more comfortable moving to another country as a unit after it, since I guess we felt like we had a plan. Before the discussion, I was a little worried about seeming all "oh, I'm just moving to another country to follow my boyfriend, tee hee!" and he was a little worried that because he'd be studying full-time, I'd be supporting us, since without having a clearly vocalized commitment, that can feel a little weird. But once we talked it out, those issues disappeared and now we're having a great time living together in a stupidly tiny apartment in Amsterdam, with the understanding that we'll take care of all the marriage stuff when we go back to Canada (and the knowledge of when we plan for that to be!). tl;dr: Talk to your boyfriend.
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Nov 22, 2009 17:47
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Kiri koli posted:Or, to be more fun, propose to him! I had a guy friend who wanted an engagement ring (why should only girls get them?) and so they both got rings, which ended up doubling as wedding rings. Hah I've toyed with that idea, just going to have to talk to him to see if he's the kind of guy that'd be into that. Dogfish posted:tl;dr: Talk to your boyfriend. Man it's nice to know I'm not alone in some weird "IT'S NOW OR NEVER" situation. Thanks for the advice. He should hear from one of his potential employers sometime in the next few weeks, so that may be a good time to bring it up.
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Nov 22, 2009 18:38
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Sneaky Monkey posted:A few weeks back I posted the design for my wedding invitations. One sided postcards basically saying "This is who we are and this is when we're getting married. Come join us." Last week, I saw an ad on google's sponsered links for 100 free postcards (aside from shipping costs). Reviews of the place looked good, and I decided what the heck, let's order away. I got them today, they look nice, just as they were designed. However, the back is plain white, while the front is a light yellow/brown. There's no texture while it's designed to look like it has some. I feel like I need to do something to spiff these up. Any suggestions on crafty things I could do to make these cards stand out a little more? Boy, that looks familiar.
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Nov 22, 2009 23:29
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zap actionsdower! posted:Boy, that looks familiar. I really loved your invite layout.  I tried several other designs but none of them ever looked half as good.
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Nov 23, 2009 00:22
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Oh god I'm getting married in Nov2010 (I think, could be earlier), oh god.
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Nov 23, 2009 15:34
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LorneReams posted:Oh god I'm getting married in Nov2010 (I think, could be earlier), oh god. Congratulations!
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Nov 23, 2009 17:58
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LorneReams posted:Oh god I'm getting married in Nov2010 (I think, could be earlier), oh god. Relax, start your planning now, do a couple of tasks a month, and you'll never be racing around like a chicken with its head cut off trying to get stuff done. And congrats. 
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Nov 23, 2009 18:03
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Sneaky Monkey posted:I really loved your invite layout. Thanks. Just a heads up for any future designing you may do (and I may be over-sensitive because I am an artist. AND I realize that this doesn't really matter as it's for pretty private use and we never would have seen it if it wasn't for this forum): There is a world of difference between "being inspired by" and "ripping off". This is a case of the latter, and it irks my designer to a big degree. If, in the future you come into a similar situation, the best way to start is by contacting the designer. Mine might not be so irked if you had reached out to me and said, "Hey. I really like this. Do you mind if I borrow from it?" And I'd have had the chance to say, "Sure. I'll pass it along to my passive-aggressive designer who won't tell you no, even though she'd rather be paid for what she does, but at least she'll feel flattered and not annoyed." Because she worked hard on the entire design concept (yay for being lucky enough to have a designer as my MOH!) and she is a professional. I would be just as upset if someone came to CC and said, "This is a little painting I did for myself." and posted a copy of one of my works. Again, I realize that this is a small thing, so just think about it in case you have a similar situation in the future. In the world of everything being on the internet, it's harder to do something like this without pissing someone off, and more important to be smooth in your relationships. You never know who you could deal with in the future.
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Nov 23, 2009 19:10
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zap actionsdower! posted:Thanks. Just a heads up for any future designing you may do (and I may be over-sensitive because I am an artist. AND I realize that this doesn't really matter as it's for pretty private use and we never would have seen it if it wasn't for this forum): There is a world of difference between "being inspired by" and "ripping off". This is a case of the latter, and it irks my designer to a big degree. Oh geez, I'm sorry.  Honestly I only saw the later post you'd made about them and didn't know someone had designed them for you until you posted yesterday. I also didn't realize how close the designs were. I only used the look of the top portion with the basket and then went on my own from there. I never did a side-by-side comparison of the two after I got started. It was never my intent to copy anyone, and if she'd prefer I not use that, I can try to make something else. I've had art copied from me before in college and I know how it feels and how to avoid it. I honestly didn't intend to make mine so similar.
Sneaky Monkey fucked around with this message at 01:27 on Nov 24, 2009 |
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Nov 24, 2009 00:20
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No no no, don't change them or anything! Like I said, just tuck it away for the future. 
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Nov 24, 2009 03:57
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zap actionsdower! posted:No no no, don't change them or anything! Like I said, just tuck it away for the future. All right.  Again, I wholeheartedly apologize, to you and your MOH, for any offense. The last thing I wanted to do was anger someone or copy a design completely. I swear it was totally coincidence for the majority of the design. I'll be more careful in the future.
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Nov 24, 2009 04:16
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I've been talking to vendors and venues yesterday and today and now I'm going to go step in front of a bus. See ya all.
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Nov 24, 2009 15:21
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^^^ See if you can find places that do package deals in your area. They tend to save you a ton of money. Our package was under 7k for rental of the place for rehearsal, day of and wedding, food, cake, flowers, linens, DJ, photography and bartender. The only other things we had to pay for were the alcohol and the officiant. Everything else was included. My sister in law had a similar experience at a different place in town (hers didn't include cake though).
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Nov 24, 2009 15:30
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Fire In The Disco posted:^^^ See if you can find places that do package deals in your area. They tend to save you a ton of money. Our package was under 7k for rental of the place for rehearsal, day of and wedding, food, cake, flowers, linens, DJ, photography and bartender. The only other things we had to pay for were the alcohol and the officiant. Everything else was included. My sister in law had a similar experience at a different place in town (hers didn't include cake though). How many people?
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Nov 24, 2009 15:49
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Under 125. They were really flexible about it; originally we said 100 and they quoted us the under 7k price, then when we said we might have more, they said, "As long as it's under 125 and you let the caterers know, we don't care!"
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Nov 24, 2009 15:51
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Fire In The Disco posted:Under 125. They were really flexible about it; originally we said 100 and they quoted us the under 7k price, then when we said we might have more, they said, "As long as it's under 125 and you let the caterers know, we don't care!" Goddamn, that was my quoted deposit LOL.
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Nov 24, 2009 15:54
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You may have already thought of this, but do ask around and find out if your friends have friends or cousins or know anybody in the floral/catering business. I was struck by the luck fairy for my wedding and our flowers were done for free by our professional friends and our catering was done at cost by my husband's buddy at work who caters on the weekend. It's worth it to ask around and see who knows who.
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Nov 24, 2009 15:57
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LorneReams posted:Goddamn, that was my quoted deposit LOL. I'm telling you, see if you can find package places. The downside is that, since you're not vendor shopping yourself, you have to trust their vendors. But my place has a mini-bridal fair every Wednesday where their vendors set up and you can go and sample food and cake, talk to the DJ and look at the photographer's work, plan flowers, etc. So I certainly didn't go into it blind, and honestly, I got more compliments on my cake and food than I ever imagined. They really were both sublime.
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Nov 24, 2009 16:07
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Does anyone here have experience with pre-nups or have at least talked about the subject/idea of one with their significant other? I feel like this is a tough subject to broach without it automatically coming off as insulting or sending out some sort of signal that you think the marriage will fail.
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Nov 24, 2009 16:59
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I just ordered the ring on Blue Nile, thanks to all the info in this thread I made a much more informed decision. Ended up picking a .47 carat, H color, VS2 stone with an ideal cut that got high marks from Holloway cut adviser. It cost $802 which wasn't as bad as I was expecting. From what I've heard, people are quite satisfied with Blue Nile and I don't have to step inside a jewelry store! Cut specifics:  Will post pictures once it arrives.
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Nov 24, 2009 19:40
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Do the guys generally tell people before he is about to propose? Like his parents/her parents? Or is it better for it to be a surprise to everyone?
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Nov 25, 2009 04:39
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Omits-Bagels posted:Do the guys generally tell people before he is about to propose? Like his parents/her parents? Or is it better for it to be a surprise to everyone? It can be tricky. We didn't end up getting engaged, but there is a long and convoluted story about how he went to extreme lengths to give me the perfect proposal with the details I wanted (date and ring) while keeping me totally oblivious. He got my mother and best friend in on it, and my mother told some of her friends it was happening. I ended up cracking under the pressure of our immigration paperwork and declaring I refused to get engaged at all, not realizing he had something planned- and when we went to my mother's, her friend was all  "YAY YOU'RE ENGAGED LET ME SEE THE RING!!" which made me  and my guy a combination of  and  because he'd been keeping the proposal itself a secret from me and hadn't yet told anyone it was cancelled. If he HAD still planned on proposing and I hadn't wigged out about it, she would have completely ruined his surprise proposal that wasn't scheduled to happen until a few days AFTER anyway!So I'd probably keep it to yourself unless she knows it's coming and you don't care if someone blabs to her.
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Nov 25, 2009 05:12
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Omits-Bagels posted:Do the guys generally tell people before he is about to propose? Like his parents/her parents? Or is it better for it to be a surprise to everyone? Or it could be like my fiance's proposal. He told my mom, his parents, his brother, and his best friend. My mother, however, told my entire church, 99% of my friends, and my entire family. Not a single person slipped. He told my mom in early December, and my birthday (when he planned on proposing) was not until April 24th. Between that time, my mother told somewhere around 60+ people, and I swear to God, not a single person told me anything. Then, on my birthday, my fiance flew down to Florida from New Jersey, showed up in front of Cinderella's castle, took out a loving ginormous rock, and proposed. My friends, family, and my church people are all awesome. My fiance, however, is the most amazing and awesome person who ever lived. So yeah, it could go either way.
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Nov 26, 2009 01:19
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Looking at dudes wedding rings... A recent trip into a jewelry store had me being pushed on a "cobalt" ring - which, after a little googling, seems to be either a) a part of another style of ring or b) an amalgam of various metals which may or may not stain my finger and make me break out in a rash. What's the unbiased opinion on cobalt rings, or whatever sort of ring I was looking at? Visually it looked a little shinier than the titanium matte ring I also liked, and (to me, at least) had a touch of yellow which overall I don't like but sprinkled into this ring looked appealing. Thoughts?
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Nov 27, 2009 06:36
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Couldn't tell you about cobalt, but my husband and I have tungsten carbide. They're very shiny and totally indestructible. They look masculine.
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Nov 27, 2009 06:51
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Was it a Scott Kay or Helzberg Diamonds band? They have some new proprietary alloy cobalt product that they're trying to sell as a more expensive alternative to titanium and tungsten. They are trying to justify higher prices, but for the average person any wedding band will be fine. Personally, I wouldn't buy it. Ultimately it's a question of style, though.
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Nov 27, 2009 07:09
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I am big on telling as few people as you can to get the job done...I don't trust people to keep their mouths shut about important stuff. I asked my Father in Law if it was cool, gave her mom a heads up, and my mom a heads up. I had hoped to do it out of the blue but no one had a clue what my wife liked...hell my wife didn't even know what she liked. At one point all I had to go on was no diamonds, not too tall, not a solitaire setting, and a whole lot of "I don't know what I like". So my plans got smashed and we had to go shopping together. She ended up picking these 2 pieces and they look like a perfect set. Engagement ring (well close enough) wedding band No other rings even came close, so I didn't even get to surprise her by picking 1 from a few different rings . So to get her back I purposed while we where playing a round of frisbee golf instead of at the nice restaurant we where eating at the next night to celebrate our anniversary...she is still pisssed at me about it .
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Nov 27, 2009 08:46
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I would kill for a ring like this: http://www.andrewnycedesigns.com/collections/essential-mokume-gane-rings.php I wish I could afford it.
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Nov 27, 2009 15:40
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JohnnyRnR posted:Was it a Scott Kay or Helzberg Diamonds band? They have some new proprietary alloy cobalt product that they're trying to sell as a more expensive alternative to titanium and tungsten. They are trying to justify higher prices, but for the average person any wedding band will be fine. I'm 99.99% sure it wasn't Scott Kay and it definitely wasn't Helzberg. I also think I remember it being awfully cheap (sub $200) and while that isn't necessarily indicative of quality it doesn't speak all that highly compared to some of the other rings. This is for a plain, non-diamond band, by the way.
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Nov 27, 2009 19:25
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LorneReams posted:I wish I could afford it. If you have a specific style that you're interested in shoot me a PM. There are a few companies that make them very reasonably.
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Nov 28, 2009 06:39
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Its taken me more time to decide my wedding band then engagement ring I want white gold....but.. 10k o 14k??? Domed or Flat?? All I know for sure if that I want it be to Comfort Fit
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Nov 30, 2009 22:42
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Would you ladies and gentlegoons be interested in a Wedding/Engagement IRC channel? Fire in the Disco suggested it and I wouldn't be opposed to setting it up. I also thought about maybe merging with the #girlgoons IRC channel, but I wouldn't want to scare away some of our awesome male contributors like JohnnyRnR. Thoughts?
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Dec 1, 2009 01:12
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Please come to #girlgoons! It's definitely fine by myself and the other channel owner, RedFish! There are actually guys there already; it's just predominantly for beauty, fashion, etc. Here are the details: Server: irc.synirc.org Channel: #girlgoons If you're new to IRC/don't have a preferred method of chatting, I always suggest using https://www.mibbit.com. It's easy to use and also has the benefit of being a web based chat client for those of you who don't want to install software (e.g. work computers, etc).
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Dec 1, 2009 01:32
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| # ? May 9, 2024 09:08 |
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Gravitee posted:Would you ladies and gentlegoons be interested in a Wedding/Engagement IRC channel? Fire in the Disco suggested it and I wouldn't be opposed to setting it up. I also thought about maybe merging with the #girlgoons IRC channel, but I wouldn't want to scare away some of our awesome male contributors like JohnnyRnR. Thoughts? Haha, as soon as FitD told me about it, I came in here to invite you ladies to come over! The irc channel recently went through a bit of an overhaul and is getting back to it's roots as a place for all things girly, but we definitely don't exclude anyone. We have some male regulars with great contributions and everyone is welcome. I used to be a regular on Pricescope (I've posted a few times in this thread with advice from a consumer perspective) and would LOVE to shop talk with anyone looking for their rings. I am in eye candy withdrawl. Also, if anyone wants to gossip about their dresses, sparklies, flowers, etc, they all get discussed in the channel on a regular basis as several of the girls are either engaged or recently married. We'd love to have you!
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Dec 1, 2009 01:33
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